Katie Made a Cake!

Actually, Katie has made this cake twice in the last few months---it's that good! I have always liked bundt cakes, pound cakes, coffee cakes.... oh, yes, I pretty much like most any type of cake, but this Tucson Lemon Cake takes the cake. (Ok, you can laugh at that pun). This cake tastes fabulous with coffee in the morning!

I'll stop rambling now, and just give the recipe. :-)
Ruth




Tucson Lemon Cake
16 servings

Cake Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup margarine, softened
3 eggs
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup poppy seed
2 Tbl. grated lemon peel
2 Tbl. lemon juice

Lemon Glaze Ingredients:
Mix glaze ingredients together.
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup melted margarine
2 Tbl. grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 12-cup bundt pan or tube pan 10x4 inches. Beat sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix flour, soda and salt. Beat into sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in remaining ingredients except for glaze. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Immediately poke holes in cake with a long-tined fork. Pour 2/3 of the glaze over top of cake. Cool. Invert onto plate. Spread with remaining glaze.


Changes we made:

We only used 1/2 the amount of poppy seed that the recipe called for. Poppy seed is rather expensive and we decided to use less so that we could make this cake more often. Does anybody know where to get poppy seed at a good price? Can I save the seeds from poppy plants and use them in baking? I should do a bit of research on this.

We didn't have buttermilk the second time Katie made the cake, so she made her own by mixing some lemon juice with regular milk. I don't remember the ratio, but it's a standard buttermilk substitute.

Vegetables and Quiche

Check out all these pretty vegetables my dad gave me on Tuesday. Dad has a huge garden this year and his plants are just starting to explode with produce. I especially love the broccoli...it's so yummy!
Below is a quiche I made last week. Whenever I make quiche, I use this recipe that I found online once and heavily adapt it to my needs. I like this recipe because it never seems to fail, and it doesn't have any exotic ingredients in it. It's also sized just right for a small quiche for the two of us. For the quiche below, I added fresh tomatoes, fresh spinach, and diced onion as my vegetables...no meat. Note, I always add more then the 2 eggs in the recipe...usually 4 or 5.

Have a great day, friends!
Jessica

What the World Eats

The link below is a facinating TIME photo essay that shows 15 different families from around the world and the foods they will eat in one week. It also shows how much they will spend for that food. Of the two American families shown, one spends $159 a week, and the other spends $341...the least spent is an African family. They only spend $1.23 for their food for one week.

What the World Eats

Egg Drop Soup

Egg Drop Soup

I found out that egg drop soup is really easy to make and fun too! It's also very yummy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups chicken broth or stock
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 -2 green onions, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• Salt to taste
• A few drops of sesame oil (optional)

PREPARATION:

In a wok or saucepan, bring the 4 cups of chicken broth to a boil. Add the white pepper and salt, and the sesame oil if using. Cook for about another minute.

Very slowly pour in the eggs in a steady stream.

To make shreds, stir the egg rapidly in a clockwise direction for one minute. To make thin streams or ribbons, gently stir the eggs in a clockwise direction until they form.

Garnish with green onion and serve.

Nutritional Breakdown - 4 servings
Each serving contains: Calories 81, 2 g Carbohydrates, 8 g Protein, 4 g Total Fat, 1 g Saturated Fat, 106 mg Cholesterol, trace Fiber, 866 mg Sodium

Egg Drop Soup Variations

These would be added after the seasonings. After adding, let the soup cook for a few more minutes and then add the beaten egg.

• 1/2 cup frozen peas.
• If you are preparing the soup for someone who is ill, try adding a slice of fresh, grated ginger. Among its many benefits, ginger is believed to be helpful in treating colds and flue.
• Egg Drop Soup is frequently thickened with cornstarch in restaurants. To add a cornstarch thickener, mix 2 - 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Just before adding the beaten egg, stir in the cornstarch/water mixture, remove the soup from the heat, and then add the beaten egg.

Wonton Soup

I've been wanting to try wanton soup for a while and I finally got up the courage to do it. I found a recipe on the internet and it turned out to be very tasty. It wasn't exactly like the wanton soup we had in China, but for being homemade with American ingredients we thought it was pretty close. If you've never had genuine Chinese food, you might think this has a bit of an odd flavor, but it's worth the try! They have many flavors in China that we do not have, so they like different tastes. They think some of our flavors are pretty strange just like we think some of their flavors are odd. For example, cheese to a Chinese person is one of the most disgusting things anyone could eat. How can American stand it!?

Wonton Soup

1/2 lb. ground pork
1 green onion (with tops), chopped
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
24 wonton skins
5 c. water
3 cans (10 3/4 oz. each) condensed chicken broth
3 soup cans water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 c. spinach, torn into sm. pieces or 1 c. watercress

Cook pork and green onions, stirring occasionally, until pork is brown; drain. Mix pork mixture, 2 teaspoons filling on center of each wonton skin. Moisten edges with water. Fold each in half to form triangle down and overlap slightly. Moisten one corner with water. Pinch to seal. (Wonton can be covered and refrigerated no longer than 24 hours.)

Heat 5 cups water to boiling in Dutch oven. Add wontons. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 2 minutes (wonton will break apart if overcooked.) Heat chicken broth, 3 cans water and 1 tablespoon soy sauce to boiling in 3 quart saucepan. Add spinach. Heat just to boiling. Place 3 wonton and 1 cup hot broth in each soup bowl. 8 servings (about 1 cup each). 175 calories per serving.

I also found a sweet and sour vegetable recipe. It's a great way to dress up vegetables and make them tasty! This quick and easy sweet and sour recipe uses frozen Oriental vegetables and a sweet and sour sauce made with pineapple juice, brown sugar, and rice vinegar. Serve with rice, although I completely forgot to cook rice the first time I made it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups (approximately) frozen Oriental vegetables
• Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• Other:
• 1 tablespoon oil for stir-frying
• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks

PREPARATION:

Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Heat the wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the frozen vegetables. Stir-fry until tender but not overcooked. Add pineapple chunks and sauce, giving sauce a quick re-stir.

Cook until thickened and serve hot. Serves 3 - 4, as part of a multi-course meal.